A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
A Nation of trees, drab green and desolate grey
In the field uniform of modern wars,
Darkens her hills, those endless, outstretched paws
Of Sphinx demolished or stone lion worn away.
They call her a young country, but they lie:
She is the last of lands, the emptiest,
A woman beyond her change of life, a breast
Still tender but within the womb is dry.
Without songs, architecture, history:
The emotions and superstitions of younger lands,
Her rivers of water drown among inland sands,
The river of her immense stupidity
Floods her monotonous tribes from Cairns to Perth.
In them at last the ultimate men arrive
Whose boast is not: “we live” but “we survive”,
A type who will inhabit the dying earth.
And her five cities, like five teeming sores,
Each drains her: a vast parasite robber-state
Where second hand Europeans pullulate
Timidly on the edge of alien shores.
Yet there are some like me turn gladly home
From the lush jungle of modern thought, to find
The Arabian desert of the human mind,
Hoping, if still from the deserts the prophets come,
Such savage and scarlet as no green hills dare
Springs in that waste, some spirit which escapes
The learned doubt, the chatter of cultured apes
Which is called civilization over there.

A few random poems:
- To the Author of a Poem Entitled Succession poem – Alexander Pope
- Ольга Седакова – Давид поет Саулу
- The Curse Upon Edward by Thomas Gray
- Hope
- Daniel Dwithen, The Wise Chap by William Barnes
- Маяковский – Стоит баба с жопой метр на метр: стих, текст стихотворения Владимира Маяковского – Poetry Monster
- The Toucan by Shel Silverstein
- Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck (Sonnet 14) by William Shakespeare
- Elixer Vitæ poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Against A Sickness To The Female Double Principle God
- The Secrets Of Divine Love Are To Be Kept by William Cowper
- Where Lies The Land To Which Yon Ship Must Go? by William Wordsworth
- An All-Night Sea Fight by William Topaz McGonagall
- To Ailsa Rock poem – John Keats poems
- Яков Полонский – На пути
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- The Jungle Flower
- The Hut
- The Hospital On The Shore
- The Garden Of Kama Kama The Indian Eros
- The Garden By The Bridge
- The First Wife
- The First Lover
- The Dying Prince
- The Convert
- The Cactus
- The Cactus Thicket
- The Bride
- The Aloe
- Syed Amir
- Surface Rights
- Surf Song
- Sunstroke
- Story Of Udaipore Told By Lalla Ji The Priest
- Story Of Lilavanti
- Story By Lalla Ji The Priest
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000) was an Australian poet and essayist known for his satirical slant. He was also a critic, teacher and academic.